The Gift of the Royai
by ssadropout
Summary: Roy and Riza are preparing to celebrate their birthdays. They are dirt poor, so how will they ever pay for the gifts that they have chosen for each other? Happy Royai Day, y'all.


AN:Lack of imagination alert! Not only do I not own FMA (All hail Arakawa!), but most of the plot of this story was purloined from O. Henry.

The Gift of the Royai

Riza Hawkeye was a very beautiful woman, but she rarely drew attention to her appearance. She usually wore a uniform, and she kept her hair under strict control. However, when she wore her hair loose, it was another story. She dazzled. There were not very many things that Roy Mustang enjoyed doing more than brushing Riza Hawkeye's hair. (By the way, the things that he did like better all also had to do with Riza.) He loved Hawkeye and how she looked no matter what she wore or how she did her hair, but when she wore her hair down… Brushing her hair relaxed him. There was evidence that petting dogs and cats could lower one's blood pressure, and Roy was pretty sure that brushing Hawkeye's waist length locks was good for both his physical and mental health. (Not that Roy ever would consider Hawkeye to be like a pet to him. He could imagine hearing that warning click and then projectiles whizzing by his head, frighteningly close, if she ever thought that he might think of her as a pet. That would be _terrible _for his physical and mental health.) As he brushed, he was mesmerized by the colors in her hair. The hues evoked images of gold, wheat, sunflowers, and the sun itself from him. He had rough calluses on the tips of his fingers, so he liked to touch her hair with the length of his fingers; it was like using his fingers as a comb.

Riza Hawkeye loved Roy Mustang. There had never been another man for her. She had been just a child when she met him. He had looked scared but excited when he showed up at the door of her father's decrepit house. He was exotically handsome but also impressively intelligent. He was older than she, but he hadn't been that much bigger, even back then. He had spent most of his time learning from her father, but he'd always made time for her. She had been so lonely in that house before he came, so his arrival changed her life. He'd made her feel special. There were many things that she liked to do for him, but most of all, she liked to polish his silver watch. It was the one presented to him when he became a state alchemist. It symbolized their lives to her. Her father's knowledge had helped him earn it. He'd had it with him during the war, when they met again after a few years of separation. There in Ishval, it became a symbol of all that was wrong with their country, alchemy, and especially them as individuals. That terrible war did make them stronger, and in the most difficult way imaginable, it showed them to the paths that they would tread for the rest of their lives. The ticking of the watch was the beating of his heart, and she polished it as if it were his heart she held. To her dismay, most of he watch's silver chain, already worn with age, had recently crumbled into black dust.

They had stayed in the army, hoping to help shape it into a force for good. Change was very slow, so they had decided to spend their non-work time helping whomever they could. They'd begun a food bank and a medical clinic, both of which required constant influxes of money. So, that's where their salaries went. They were practically destitute financially but wealthy with love and happiness.

Riza's birthday was on June tenth, and Roy's was on the twelfth, so they always celebrated both birthdays on June eleventh. Roy had seen a pair of beautiful antique hair combs in a shop. He imagined Riza's hair hanging long but secured with the combs. She might wear her hair down more often if it were held out of her way with the combs. They were crafted from ebony and inlaid with mother of pearl. Of course, he didn't have enough money to buy them. What could he sell or do so he could get those combs for Riza?

Ever since Roy's watch chain had crumbled, Riza had known what she wanted to get him for his birthday. She had seen a silver chain with unusual intricate links in the window of a jewelry store. She'd been wracking her brains to come up with a way to pay for that chain. She knew that she would find a way.

On the night of the tenth, while Roy was in the bathroom flossing his teeth, Riza looked for his watch on the dresser where he always put it at night. It wasn't there. She checked his pants and coat pockets and quickly rifled through his drawers. (The dresser drawers!) Where could he have put it? He came out of the bathroom, so she quit her search. As he did every year on her actual birthday, he gave her kisses equal in number to her age.

June eleventh came on a Saturday, so they didn't have to go to work. Riza made one last frantic (but unsuccessful) attempt to locate the watch. They each had things to do in the morning, so they wished each other happy birthday, kissed, and went on their ways. When Roy got home, he saw that there was a message on the answering machine. It was Maria Ross' voice. "Hey Riza! I just heard that you cut off your beautiful hair. I can't believe that you did that! Well, it was for a good cause. You are so sweet!" Roy cringed. _She couldn't have cut off her hair, could she?_

Riza walked into the room. She had a scarf on her head. No hair was visible. She still looked beautiful to him, and a smile graced his lips. She had a wrapped gift in her hand, and he brought the gift that he had for her from behind his back. They exchanged the presents. She opened hers first, because her birthday had actually already occurred. Her eyes lit up. "Oh, Roy, these are so beautiful. They are the prettiest set of combs that I have ever seen. I'm sorry, but I can't use them right now, though," she said, pointing to her covered scalp. She took his face into her hands and kissed him.

It was then Roy's turn to open his gift. "I love this chain!" he said. "It's perfect. I don't have my watch here, so I can't attach it right now. But I really do love it." He took a breath. "Riza, Maria Ross called and left you a message. She said that you had cut off all of your hair for a good cause. You didn't…"

Riza laughed. "That's pretty funny. I'm not bald or anything. I had eleven inches of my hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love. They use the hair to make wigs for sick children who have lost their hair. It still falls below my shoulders, and the combs will look great in it."

"Then why is your head covered?"

"The hair dresser who cut my hair gave me a deep conditioning treatment. My hair is wrapped in plastic, so I covered it with the scarf. I'm supposed to keep the goop in for two hours, but I didn't want to stay out on our day. I'll rinse it out shortly. I have a question for you, too. I couldn't find your watch, and you just said that you don't have it here. Did you sell it?" she asked.

"No. Fuery has it. He had some kind of notion that he can get it to run perpetually without winding it. Something to do with a tiny power source. That's all."

Riza sighed with relief. "For a while there I was beginning to think that we were somehow trapped in some old story with an ironic twist."

Roy laughed, "As if we're figments of someone's imagination! Let's celebrate life, my love."

AN: This is my first fanfic ever. I'd love reviews, but please note that I have a heart condition! Thank you for reading.


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